Rubidium marking to detect dispersal of pest and predator from corn into sorghum and cotton in Georgia
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This field study evaluated marking both the pest [Helicoverpa zea (Boddie)] and its predator [Orius insidiosus (Say)] with rubidium chloride (RbCI) in corn to detect dispersal of these insects from this crop into sorghum and cotton. Sorghum and cotton were planted in small plots at the interface, or common boundary, of a commercial corn and cotton field. The cotton field adjacent to these interface plots was divided into cotton field plots. Foliar solutions of RbCI were applied to corn at field site 1 when the ears were infested with 4th through 6th instars of H. zea and at site 2 when corn silks were infested with eggs and 1st instars of H. zea and nymphs and adults of O. insidiosus. Insects were collected at various times after RbCI application from the sorghum interface plots, cotton interface plots, and cotton field plots. Both H. zea eggs and O. insidiosus females were successfully marked in corn treated with RbCI, and marking success for both insects ranged from 1533%. Data on rubidium-marked insects indicated that H. zea females from the generation feeding on rubidium-treated corn dispersed into sorghum interface plots at both treated sites and into cotton interface plots at one site and that O. insidiosus females dispersed from corn into sorghum interface plots and cotton field plots at one site.
